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Zechariah
Chapter Eleven
Zechariah 11
Chapter Contents
Destruction to come upon the Jews. (1-3) The Lord's
dealing with the Jews. (4-14) The emblem and curse of a foolish shepherd.
(15-17)
Commentary on Zechariah 11:1-3
(Read Zechariah 11:1-3)
In figurative expressions
that destruction of Jerusalem
and of the Jewish church and nation
is foretold
which our Lord Jesus
when
the time was at hand
prophesied plainly and expressly. How can the fir trees
stand
if the cedars fall? The falls of the wise and good into sin
and the
falls of the rich and great into trouble
are loud alarms to those every way
their inferiors. It is sad with a people
when those who should be as shepherds
to them
are as young lions. The pride of Jordan was the thickets on the banks;
and when the river overflowed the banks
the lions came up from them roaring.
Thus the doom of Jerusalem may alarm other churches.
Commentary on Zechariah 11:4-14
(Read Zechariah 11:4-14)
Christ came into this world for judgment to the Jewish
church and nation
which were wretchedly corrupt and degenerate. Those have
their minds wofully blinded
who do ill
and justify themselves in it; but God
will not hold those guiltless who hold themselves so. How can we go to God to
beg a blessing on unlawful methods of getting wealth
or to return thanks for
success in them? There was a general decay of religion among them
and they
regarded it not. The Good Shepherd would feed his flock
but his attention
would chiefly be directed to the poor. As an emblem
the prophet seems to have
taken two staves; Beauty
denoted the privileges of the Jewish nation
in their
national covenant; the other he called Bands
denoting the harmony which
hitherto united them as the flock of God. But they chose to cleave to false teachers.
The carnal mind and the friendship of the world are enmity to God; and God
hates all the workers of iniquity: it is easy to foresee what this will end in.
The prophet demanded wages
or a reward
and received thirty pieces of silver.
By Divine direction he cast it to the potter
as in disdain for the smallness
of the sum. This shadowed forth the bargain of Judas to betray Christ
and the
final method of applying it. Nothing ruins a people so certainly
as weakening
the brotherhood among them. This follows the dissolving of the covenant between
God and them: when sin abounds
love waxes cold
and civil contests follow. No
wonder if those fall out among themselves
who have provoked God to fall out
with them. Wilful contempt of Christ is the great cause of men's ruin. And if
professors rightly valued Christ
they would not contend about little matters.
Commentary on Zechariah 11:15-17
(Read Zechariah 11:15-17)
God
having showed the misery of this people in their
being justly left by the Good Shepherd
shows their further misery in being
abused by foolish shepherds. The description suits the character Christ gives
of the scribes and Pharisees. They never do any thing to support the weak
or
comfort the feeble-minded; but seek their own ease
while they are barbarous to
the flock. The idol shepherd has the garb and appearance of a shepherd
receives submission
and is supported at much expense; but he leaves the flock
to perish through neglect
or leads them to ruin by his example. This suits
many in different churches and nations
but the warning had an awful fulfilment
in the Jewish teachers. And while such deceive others to their ruin
they will
themselves have the deepest condemnation.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Zechariah》
Zechariah 11
Verse 1
[1] Open
thy doors
O Lebanon
that the fire may devour thy cedars.
Open thy doors —
That destruction of the Jewish church and nation
is here foretold in dark and
figurative expressions
which our Lord
when the time was at hand
prophesied
of very plainly.
Lebanon —
Lebanon
a great mountain boundary between Judea and its neighbours on the
north
is here commanded to open its gates
its fortifications raised to secure
the passages
which lead into Judea.
That the fire —
Fire kindled by the enemy in the houses and buildings in Judea
and in Lebanon
itself.
The cedars —
Palaces built with cedars.
Verse 2
[2] Howl
fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled:
howl
O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.
Fir-tree —
Houses and towns built with firs.
The cedar —
Much less shall ye escape.
Ye Oaks —
Used in that country for building palaces
cities
towns
and fortresses.
The forest —
Jerusalem
compared to a forest
in regard of the many and tall houses in it.
In short
all are called to cry
for the miseries that will come upon all.
Come down — Is
laid desolate.
Verse 3
[3]
There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a
voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.
Of the shepherds —
The enemy having driven away their flocks and herds.
Their glory —
What was their honour.
Of Jordan —
The great forests on the banks of Jordan
where the young lions were wont to
range.
Verse 4
[4] Thus
saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter;
My God —
God the father speaks to Christ.
Of the slaughter —
Appointed to the slaughter. The Jews
during four hundred and fifty years
were
a flock of slaughter to the Egyptians
Chaldeans
and afterwards the Romans.
Verse 5
[5] Whose possessors slay them
and hold themselves not guilty: and they that
sell them say
Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity
them not.
Whose possessors —
Governors.
Not guilty —
Think they do no ill.
That sell them —
For slaves.
For l am rich —
Profanely give God thanks
that they thrive by cruelty and oppression.
Verse 6
[6] For
I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land
saith the LORD: but
lo
I
will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand
and into the hand of
his king: and they shall smite the land
and out of their hand I will not
deliver them.
I will deliver — To
rob
imprison
banish
or kill each other.
Of his king —
The Roman Caesar
whom the Jews had chosen to be so.
The land —
Their king and his armies shall destroy the land.
Verse 7
[7] And
I will feed the flock of slaughter
even you
O poor of the flock. And I took
unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty
and the other I called Bands; and
I fed the flock.
Bands —
The beauty of grace and glory
the bands of love and peace.
Verse 9
[9] Then
said I
I will not feed you: that that dieth
let it die; and that that is to
be cut off
let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of
another.
Then —
After that time of his patient feeding the flock
and cutting off the
unfaithful shepherds.
Cut off — By
the sword or famine.
The flesh —
Either live to be besieged
'till hunger makes the living eat the dead
or by
seditions and bloody intestine quarrels
destroy each other.
Verse 10
[10] And
I took my staff
even Beauty
and cut it asunder
that I might break my
covenant which I had made with all the people.
Even beauty —
Which was the beauty and glory of them
the covenant of God
with all the
blessings of it.
That I might break —
Declare it null. Christ calls it his covenant
for he was the mediator of it.
Verse 11
[11] And
it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me
knew that it was the word of the LORD.
Broken —
The covenant was disannulled.
That waited —
Believed in him
and obeyed him.
Knew —
Saw
and owned God in all this.
Verse 12
[12] And
I said unto them
If ye think good
give me my price; and if not
forbear. So
they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
And I said —
Upon parting
Christ seems after the manner of men
to mind them of his claims
for them
and desire them to reckon with him.
If ye think good — He
puts it to them
whether they thought he deserved ought at their hands? So they
- The rulers of the Jews
the high priest
chief priests
and pharisees.
Weighed —
Which was the manner of paying money in those days.
Thirty pieces —
Which amounts to thirty-seven shillings and six-pence
the value of the life of
a slave
Exodus 21:32. This was fulfilled when they paid
Judas Iscariot so much to betray Christ.
Verse 13
[13] And
the LORD said unto me
Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was
prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver
and cast them to the
potter in the house of the LORD.
The Lord —
God the Father.
Cast it — As
being so little
it would hardly purchase any thing but what was the cheapest
among them.
A goodly price —
God upbraids the shepherds of his people
who prized the great Shepherd no
higher.
Cast them to the potter — Or rather
cast them into the house of the Lord for the potter; all
which the Jewish rulers acted over.
Verse 14
[14] Then
I cut asunder mine other staff
even Bands
that I might break the brotherhood
between Judah and Israel.
Then — So
soon as I saw what value they put upon me.
I cut asunder —
Christ did it really
the prophet did it in the type.
Break —
Declare it broken.
The brother-hood —
That friendship which had been among them.
Judah —
The two tribes
and the remnant of the ten tribes.
Verse 15
[15] And
the LORD said unto me
Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish
shepherd.
Take unto thee — O
Zechariah
personate a shepherd quite different from him thou hast represented.
Verse 16
[16] For
lo
I will raise up a shepherd in the land
which shall not visit those that be
cut off
neither shall seek the young one
nor heal that that is broken
nor
feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat
and tear
their claws in pieces.
Who shall not visit —
Who seeks not out those that are lost.
The young one —
Which are aptest to perish through weakness.
Nor heal —
But leaves it to die of its wounds.
That stand still — Not
able to go forward.
Will eat —
Feast on the fattest of the flock.
Tear their claws —
Tear off their skin unto the very nails; in brief
a sluggish
negligent
covetous
riotous
oppressive
and cruel government
is shadowed out by a
foolish shepherd.
Verse 17
[17] Woe
to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm
and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up
and his right eye
shall be utterly darkened.
The idol shepherd — To
them that are but the images of shepherds.
That leaveth —
Casts off the care of the flock.
The sword — Of
the enemy
shall break his strength and be-fool his counsels.
Dried up —
They that have gifts which qualify them to do good
if they do it not
they
will be taken away. They that should have been workmen
but were slothful
and
would do nothing
will justly have their arm dried up. And they that should
have been watchmen
but were drowsy
will justly have their eye blinded.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Zechariah》
11 Chapter 11
Introduction
Verses 1-17
Verse 1-2
That the fire may devour thy cedars
etc.
The fallen cedar
In this chapter there is an announcement of the judgment that was
to come on the Jewish State and nation because of their ungodliness
and
especially their contemptuous rejection of Him whom God sent to be their
shepherd. The prophecy here is not in any way connected with that in the
preceding chapters
except as it may be regarded as continuing the account of
God’s dealings with Israel
and their behaviour towards Him consequent on the
events predicted in these chapters. Hitherto the prophet has been a bearer of
good tidings to Zion
tidings of deliverance from oppressors
and restoration
to former privilege and felicity. But there was a dark side to the picture as
well as a bright one. All trouble and conflict had not ceased with their
restoration to their own land: nor was their tendency to rebellion and apostasy
from Jehovah
their Shepherd and King
finally subdued. Treating Him with
contempt
His favour should be withdrawn from them
and the bonds that united
them should be broken. The iron hand of foreign oppression should again be laid
heavily upon them
and the ruin of their State and desolation of their land
should mark the greatness of their sin by the severity of the penalty it had
entailed. The prophecy begins with a picture of ruin and desolation
overspreading the land
and then the process is detailed by which this was
brought about and the cause of it indicated. The description of the judgment
commences dramatically. Lebanon is summoned to open her doors
that the fire
may enter to consume her cedars; the cypress is admonished to howl or wail
because the cedar is fallen
because the noble and glorious trees are
destroyed; the oaks of Bashan are called upon to join in the wail
for the
inaccessible forest is laid low. The cypress is here called to lament for the
fall of the cedar of Lebanon
the glory of the forest
not as deploring that
calamity so much as anticipating for itself a like fate. That this description
is to be taken literally cannot be supposed; the language is too forcible
and
the picture too vivid to be understood merely of the destruction by fire of a
few trees
even though these were the finest of their kind. On the other hand
there seems no sufficient reason for regarding this description as symbolical
and wholly figurative. The more simple and tenable view is that which Calvin
suggested
namely
that by the places here mentioned is intended the whole land
of Judea
the desolation of which is predicted by the prophet. The catastrophe
thus depicted was brought about by the misconduct of the people
and especially
their shepherds and rulers
towards the Great Shepherd of Israel
whom God sent
forth to feed and tend the flock. This is described in what follows
where the
prophet is represented as acting as the representative of another
and as such
is addressed. It cannot be supposed that the person addressed is the Angel of
Jehovah
or the Messiah
for the person addressed in Zechariah 11:4 is evidently the same as
the person addressed in Zechariah 11:15
and what is there said
does not in any way apply to the Angel of Jehovah
or the Messiah. Nor can it
be supposed that the prophet is here addressed in his own person
for as it was
no part of the prophetic office to act as a shepherd of Israel
it could not be
to the prophet as such that the command here given was addressed. The only
supposition that can tenably be made is that what is here narrated passed as a
vision before the inner sense of the prophet
in which he saw himself as the
representative of another
first of the good shepherd who is sent to feed the
flock
and then of the evil shepherd by whom the flock was neglected
and who
should be destroyed for his iniquity. (W. L. Alexander
D. D.)
The cedars
fir trees
and oaks of society
This chapter
it has been said
divides itself into three
sections.
1. The threat of judgment (Zechariah 11:1-3).
2. The description of the Good Shepherd (verse. 4-14).
3. The sketch of the foolish shepherd (Zechariah 11:15-17).
Lebanon
here
may be regarded as a symbol of the kingdom of
Judah
its cedars as denoting the chief men of the kingdom.
I. A variety of
distinction. The “cedar” here
the “fir tree
” or cypress
and the “oaks
” are
employed to set forth some of the distinctions that prevailed amongst the
Hebrew people. Now
whilst all men have a common origin
a common nature
and
common moral obligations and responsibilities
yet in every generation there
prevails a large variety of striking distinctions. There are not only the
cedars and fir trees
but even briars and thistles. There is almost as great a
distinction between the highest type of man and the lowest
as there is between
the lowest and the highest type of brute. There are intellectual giants and
intellectual dwarfs
moral monarchs and spiritual serfs. This variety of
distinction in the human family serves at least two important purposes.
1. To check pride in the highest and despondency in the lowest. The
cedar has no cause for boasting over the fir tree
or over the humblest plant
it owes its existence to the same God
and is sustained by the same common
elements. And what have the greatest men--the Shakespeares
the Schillers
the
Miltons
the Goethes--to be proud of? What have they that they have not received?
And why should the weakest man despond? He is what God made him
and his
responsibilities are limited by his capacities. This variety serves--
2. To strengthen the ties of human brotherhood. Were all men of equal
capacity
it is manifest that there would be no scope for that mutual ministry
of interdependence which tends to unite society together. The strong rejoices
in bearing the infirmities of the weak
and the weak rejoices in gratitude and
hope on account of the succour received.
II. A common calamity.
“Howl
fir tree; for the cedar is fallen.” An expression which implies that the
same fate awaits the fir tree. There is one event that awaits men of every type
and class and grade
the tallest cedar and the most stunted shrub
that is
death.
1. This common calamity levels all distinctions. “Though his
excellency mount up to the heavens
and his head reach unto the clouds
yet he
shall perish forever.”
2. This common calamity should dematerialise all souls. Since we are
only here on this earth for a few short years at most
why should we live to
the flesh
and thus materialise our souls?
III. A natural
alarm. “Howl
fir tree.” The howl
not of rage
not of sympathy
but of alarm.
When the higher falls
the lower may well take the alarm. If the cedar gives
way
let the cypress look out. This principle may apply to--
1. Communities. Amongst the kingdoms of the earth there are the
“cedar” and the “fir tree.” The same may be said of markets. There are the
cedars of the commercial world; great houses regulating almost the merchandise
of the world.
2. Individuals. When men who are physically strong fall
let weaker
men beware. When men who are moral cedars--majestic in character
and mighty in
beneficent influences--fall
let the less useful take the alarm
and still more
the useless. (Homilist.)
Howl
fir tree; for the
cedar is fallen--
The cedar and the fir
The prophecy
of which these words are a part
had its fulfilment
in the destruction of Jerusalem
and the dispersion of the Jews by the Romans.
The text would become applicable at a time of great national calamity. By the
cedar tree the chief men of a country are represented
those who occupy the
more prominent positions
and are
conspicuous by station and influence. When
the cedar tree falls
when the princes of a land are brought down by disaster
and death
men of inferior rank who
in comparison with these princes
are but
as the fir tree compared with the cedar
may well tremble and fear
as knowing
that their own day of trial must be rapidly approaching. These words
then
are
universally applicable whenever calamity falls on those better or more exalted
than ourselves
and such calamity may serve as a warning
teaching us to expect
our own share of trouble. “Howl
fir tree”--tremble
and be afraid
ye sinful
and careless ones
who
though planted in the garden of the Lord
bring not
forth the fruits of righteousness. “The cedar is fallen
”--shall
then
the fir
tree escape? “If judgment first begin at the house of God
what shall the end
be of them that obey not the Gospel of Christ?” Take the text as setting forth
the sufferings of the righteous as an evidence or token of the far greater
which
in due time
must be the portion of the wicked. If the wicked were to
ponder God’s dealings with the righteous
if the fir tree would observe what
was done to the cedar
it could hardly be that future and everlasting
punishment would be denied by any
or by any be practically disregarded. Let
our blessed Saviour Himself be the first cedar tree on which we gaze. “Smitten
of God and afflicted.” “A Man of Sorrows
and acquainted with grief.” His
sufferings only then assume their most striking character when they are seen as
demonstrations of the evil of sin. The atonement alone shows me what sin is in
God’s sight. The Captain of our salvation was “made perfect through
sufferings
” but the same discipline has been employed
from the first
in
regard of all those whom God has conducted to glory. Under all dispensations
affliction is an instrument of purification. The nearer we approach the times
of the Gospel
the intenser becomes the discipline of suffering; as though God
has designed to prepare men for an increase in tribulation
with an increase of
privilege. The fact is undisputed
that
through much tribulation
men enter
the kingdom of heaven. No fact should be more startling to those who are living
without God
and perhaps secretly hoping for impunity at the last. They cannot
deny that the cedar has been bent and blighted by the hurricane
whilst
comparatively
sunshine and calm have been around the fir. And from this they
are bound to conclude the great fact of a judgment to come. Suppose it to be
for purposes of discipline that God employs suffering--what does this prove but
that human nature is thoroughly corrupt
requiring to be purged so as by fire
ere it can be fitted for happiness? And if there must be this fiery
purification
what is the inference which ungodly men should draw
if not that
they will be given up hereafter to the unquenchable flame
given up to it when
that flame can neither annihilate their being
nor eradicate their corruption?
It is probable enough that the wicked may be disposed to congratulate
themselves on their superior prosperity
and to look with pity
if not with
contempt
on the righteous
as the God whom they serve seems to reward them
with nothing but trouble. But this can only be through want of consideration.
It may certainly be inferred from these words
when applied in the modes
indicated
that the present afflictions of the righteous shall be vastly
exceeded by the future of the wicked. The “cedar is fallen
” and the fir tree
is called upon to “howl
” as though it were about to be rent and shivered
as
by the tempest and the thunder. The sufferings of the righteous might save the wicked
from future torments
and that which prepares a good man for heaven might
snatch a bad one from hell. (H. Melvill
B. D.)
Fallen greatness
This word “cedar” applies to Jerusalem
to the temple
to Lebanon.
It is a general and symbolic term. It applies to all great characters
to all
noble institutions
all sublime purposes. There was an abundance of cedar wood
in the temple
so the temple was often called The Cedar
and what the temple
was Jerusalem was. One element sometimes gives its character to everything into
which it enters. The eternal doctrine of the text is that when the strong go
down the weak should lay that significant circumstance to heart. How can the
fir tree stand when the cedar is blown down? How can the weak defend the city
when the mighty men have failed? What can the poor do after the kings of
wealth? And if God can smite the mighty
can He not overwhelm the weak and the
little? if He can rend the stars
and hurl the constellations out of their
places
what about our clay walls and huts of dust?--surely He could sweep them
away as with the tempestuous wind. And yet the weak have a place of their own.
Trees have been blown down whilst daisies have been left undisturbed. There is
a strength of littleness
there is a majesty of weakness
there is a charter of
immunity granted to things that are very frail. The whirlwind does not destroy
the flower that bends before its fury
but it often destroys the mighty tree
that dares it to wrestle. How much we depend upon the cedar in all life
in all
society
in all institutions! What is done by one man may be comparatively
insignificant and may never be heard of
and that self-same thing done by
another quality of man fills the world with amazement. How is that? Simply
because of the quality. There are people who burrow in the earth
and what they
do no man cares for
no man inquires; there are persons who have lived
themselves down to the vanishing point of influence
that it is of no
consequence whatsoever what they think or do. Other men can hardly breathe
without the fact being noted and commented upon; the pulse cannot be unsteady
without the whole journalism of the empire being filled with the tidings. The
difference is the difference between the cedar and the fir tree. What is
impossible in nature is possible in humanity: the fir tree can become the
cedar
and the cedar can become the fir tree
and these continual changes
constitute the very tragedy of human experience. Let it be known that some
person has committed a theft in the city
and the theft will be reported in
very small type
it is really of no consequence to cruel society what that
person has done; but let a man of another sort do that very self-same thing
and there is no type large enough in which to announce the fact. It is not always
so with the good deeds--“the good is oft interred with men’s bones.” There is
no printer that cares to report charity
nobleness
meekness
forgiveness
great exercises of patience and forbearance. The printer was not made to
intermeddle with that sacred fame. Such reputation is registered in heaven
is
watched and guarded by the angels
and carries with itself its own guarantee of
immortality. Yet this doctrine might easily be abused. A man might be fool
enough to say that it is of no consequence what he does. But it is in reality
of consequence
according to the circle within which he moves. Every man can
make his home unhappy
every man can lay a burden upon the back of his child
which the child is unable to sustain. That is the consummation of cruelty. If
the man could but put a dagger into himself
and cause his own life continual
agony
he might be doing an act of justice
he might be trying to compensate
for the wrongs he has done to others: but when it is felt that everything that
man does tells upon the child to the third and fourth generation
so that the
child cannot get rid of the blood which the great-grandfather shed
then every
man becomes of importance in his own sphere and in relation to the line of life
which he touches. We apply this text personally and nationally
founding upon
it our lamentations over fallen greatness. The great statesman dies
and the
Church at once becomes filled with the eloquence of this text--“Howl
fir tree;
for the cedar is fallen
”--the lesson being
that the great man has gone
the
great strength has vanished
and now weakness is exposed to a thousand attacks;
weakness feels its defencelessness. Nor ought such eulogy be limited. Sentiment
has to play a very serious part and a very useful part in the education of
life. When men cease to revere greatness they cease to cultivate it. There is a
philistinism that is near akin to impiety and profanity. All men are not alike
all men are not of one value; some men have the genius of insight and
foresight
and some have it not; and when men who can see the coming time
and
interpret the time that now is into its largest significances
are taken away
from us
then those of us who occupy positions of commonplace may well feel
that some tremendous bankruptcy has supervened in history
and the world is
made poor forever. Yet this is not the spirit of the Gospel
which is always a
spirit of good cheer and stimulus and hopefulness. We are not dependent now
upon men
except in a secondary sense; we are dependent upon God alone:--The
battle is not yours
but God’s; they that be for us are more than all that can
be against us; our cedar is the Cross
and the Cross has never failed. Rome
boasted that it had obliterated the Christian name but Rome boasted too soon.
Ten persecutions followed one another in rapid and devastating succession; yet
there were Christians still praying in secret
temples unknown and unnamed were
frequented by ardent and passionate worshippers. (Joseph Parker
D. D.)
The death of great men
Mr. Jay was generally chaste and dignified in his
composition
but occasionally used a quaintness of expression which in our day
would be called “sensational.” The selection of his texts was sometimes
ingenious--e.g.
on two occasions
after the death of Robert Hall and
Rowland Hill
his text was
“Howl
fir tree
for the cedar is fallen.” He
always took advantage of public events
and thus brought nature and providence
to his aid in instructing the people.
The cedar useful after it is fallen
The cedar is the most useful when dead. It is the most productive
when its place knows it no more. There is no timber like it. Firm in grain
and
capable of the finest polish
the tooth of no insect will touch it
and time
himself can hardly destroy it. Diffusing a perpetual fragrance through the
chamber which it ceils
the worm will not corrode the book which it protects
nor the moth corrupt the garment which it guards--all but immortal itself
it
transfuses its amaranthine qualities into the objects around it. Every
Christian is useful in his fife
but the goodly cedars are the most useful
afterwards. Luther is dead
but the Reformation fives.
Verse 3
For their glory is spoiled
Bad men in high office
I.
The
men here reffered to called “shepherds
” which is a designation of men in
power
men who politically and ecclesiastically presided over the people
the
leaders. The “shepherds” have sometimes reached their positrons irrespective of
the will of the people. The “shepherds” referred to here had an ambitious
character. Likened to “young lions.”
1. That a man in high office who has a bad character is of all men
the most contemptible A bad character in a pauper makes him contemptible; but a
bad character in a king makes him ten times the more contemptible.
2. That it is the duty of all peoples to promote those alone to high
office who have a high moral character.
II. Bad men in high
office greatly distressed. “There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds
”
etc. “The glory of these shepherds being spoiled
” says Wardlaw
“signifies the
bringing down of all their honour and power and the wealth and luxury which
by
the abuse of their power
they had acquired
all becoming a prey to the sacking
and pillaging besiegers. The pride of Jordan lay in its evergreens and
brushwood with which its banks were enriched and adorned; and these being the
covert and habitation of the young lions
the two parts of the figure are
appropriate. As the lions howl and roar in dismay and fury when dislodged from
their refuges and dwelling places
whether by the swelling flood sweeping over
their lairs
or from the cutting down or the burning of their habitations
so
should the priests and rulers of Jerusalem be alarmed and struck with
desperation and rage
when they found their city
within whose walls they had
counted themselves secure from the very possibility of hostile entrance
laid
open to the outrage of an exasperated enemy
and all its resources given up to
plunder and destruction--country as well as city thrown into confusion and
desolation!” Such rulers may well be distressed--
1. Because all the keen-sighted and honest men over whom they preside
despise them.
2. Because the Righteous Governor of the world has denounced them. (Homilist.)
Verses 4-17
Verse 4-5
Feed the flock of the slaughter
Oppressed people and their opressors
I.
A
duty enjoined towards oppressed peoples. “Feed the flock (sheep) of the
slaughter.” These shepherds
these rulers of the Hebrew people
“slaughtered”
the people. Their rights
energies
liberties and independency are
“slaughtered
” their means of subsistence and advancement are “slaughtered.”
People “slaughtered” in these respects abound in every state and place in
Europe. “Feed” them--
1. With the knowledge of their rights as men.
2. With the knowledge of the true methods to obtain these rights. Not
by violence and spoliation but by moral means
by skilful industry
by
temperate habits
by economic management
by moral suasion.
3. With the knowledge of worthy motives by which to obtain these
rights.
II. Here is a
sketch of the authors of oppression.
1. They are cruel. “Whose possessors slay them.”
2. They are impious. In all their cruelties they “hold themselves not
guilty.” The greatest despots of the world have ever been ready to justify
themselves to their own consciences.
3. They are avaricious. “And they that sell them
say
Blessed be the
Lord; for I am rich.” A miserable greed was their inspiration. (Homilist.)
A good shepherd
I would give my life for these poor people of the Soudan. How can
I help feeling for them? All the time I was there
every night I used to pray
that God would lay upon me the burden of their sins
and crush me with it
instead of these poor sheep. I really wished it and longed for it. (General
Gordon.)
Verse 6-7
I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land
A terrible doom
and an invaluable privilege
I.
A
terrible doom. “For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land.” What is
the doom? The abandonment of God.
1. This abandonment came after great kindness. For long centuries He
had manifested the greatest kindness to the Hebrew people. From their rescue
from Egypt down to this hour He had been merciful to them. “My Spirit will not
always strive with man.”
2. This abandonment involved inexpressible ruin. They were given up
to the heathen cruelty of one another and to the violence of foreigners. If God
abandon us
what are we? This will be the doom of the finally impenitent.
“Depart from Me.”
II. An invaluable
privlege. “I will feed the flock of slaughter
even you
O poor of the flock.”
“The Lord is my shepherd
I shall not want.” “When He saw the multitudes He
wast moved with compassion towards them
because
they fainted and were
scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. ”I am the Good Shepherd
” said
Christ. Conclusion--Thank God
we are not abandoned yet. God is with us as a
shepherd. He is seeking the lost and feeding those who are in His fold. (Homilist.)
Abandoned
The saddest spectacle earth can show is a shipwrecked
life--the terrible loss of all the possibilities humanity involves. If a man
quenches the light God gives him
and by self-indulgence and unfaithfulness so
debauches his spirit that at last he is deserted by every angel of purity and
goodness
and becomes unvisited by even the desire for any spiritual attainment
then there is a lost soul in the most awful sense
whether here or in the world
to come. (Dr. Macleod.)
And I took unto Me two
staves--
Two shepherd’s staves
In the next place is represented Christ’s undertaking of this
charge
and His going diligently about it
signified by two shepherds’ staves
the first whereof
called Beauty
holds forth the sweet and beautiful order of
His Covenant
and the doctrine thereof
whereby the Church is directed in
faith
worship
and obedience of God. The second
called Bands
signifies that
policy in Church and State whereby they are kept one
and without schisms among
themselves.
1. Christ the Mediator became as obedient servant
and is willing
and takes pleasure to be employed for His Church’s good; and will have a tender
consideration of their case.
2. Christ in His care over the visible Church
bath an especial eye
to His elect
and the regenerate in it
how abject-like soever they seem in the
eyes of men
or in their outward condition.
3. Christ is a faithful shepherd
singular and incomparable in His
care and diligence about His people for
saith He
“I took unto Me two staves
”
whereas other shepherds use but one.
4. The Covenant and doctrine revealed by Christ unto His Church
as
it sets forth the beauty and excellency of God
so it is beautiful and sweetly
ordered in itself
so as faith and obedience sweetly work to others’ hands
and
make the followers thereof to be beautiful and excellent above all people; for
“the one staff I called Beauty.”
5. As unity and concord in a Church is a fruit of Christ’s feeding
His flock
so policy and order
whereby unity is preserved
is a rich blessing.
“The other I called Bands.”
6. Christ’s performances are answerable to His undertakings: what He
saith He doth; and His practice will never give His promise the lie: for unto
His promise
“I will feed
” is subjoined
“And I fed the flock.” (George
Hutcheson.)
The staves of Beauty and Bands broken
I. Unity from
union with God is national beauty. It is the union of the members of the body
with the head which gives to the entire frame its dignity and beauty. A
headless trunk has no beauty
but when body and limbs are fitly framed
together
that symmetry is attained which God intended. The beauty of a tree
consists in the union of branches by union with the trunk. The unity of the
Hebrew nation was destroyed by their wilful severance of them selves from their
Divine Head. Lack of union with God brought discord into the nation and
destroyed their national beauty (Psalms 133:1-3.).
II. Men must have a
soul shepherd
and when God is rejected they must have a bad one. If a road is
known to one person only
any other man who offers to guide the traveller must
be his enemy. If a man is deeply wounded
he must have help from some one
outside himself
and the quack who undertakes to heal him
and is ignorant of
the proper way to treat him
will be likely to be his murderer. There is but
one Being who is acquainted with the soul’s needs; if He is rejected
any other
must harm the soul. God claims to be the only Saviour. “There is none beside
Me” (Isaiah 45:21). Christ warned Israel
against false shepherds
yet
as a nation
they chose them and rejected Him
and as He only could really lead and feed them
their choice necessarily issued
in their ruin.
III. Sin disinherits
men and nations of their God-given portion. (Outlines by London Minister.)
Beauty and Bands the two staves of the Divine Shepherd
As long as sin will be in the world the oppressor and the
oppressed are sure to be here; for it is in the nature of sin to make men hard
cruel
and oppressive. The exaltation of a man above his fellow men in wealth
honour
authority
and power is no reason whatever why he should despise and
oppress them
but
on the contrary
it should be a reason for him to deal
kindly towards them. The wealth of the rich man should be an inducement to him
to remember the poor
and the strength of the strong should be an inducement to
him to help the weak. For a consolation to the oppressed in their sufferings
and a warning to the oppressor
the Bible teaches in a clear manner that God
will surely visit the one in mercy and the other in judgment; the same hand
that bestows favours graciously and tenderly upon the oppressed holds the sword
of vengeance above the oppressor. In this chapter God said that He was going to
visit the rulers of His people in judgment because they were oppressing them.
“Thus said the Lord my God: Feed the flock of slaughter; whose possessors slay
them
and hold themselves not guilty; and they that sell them say
Blessed be
the Lord
for I am rich and their own shepherds pity them not.” How abominable this
must have been in the sight of God! After accumulating wealth through cruelty
and oppression they sanctimoniously praised God for prospering them. But while
these unjust and oppressive rulers were thus justifying themselves
destruction
overtook them. “For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land
saith the
Lord
” etc. But when God visits the oppressor in judgment He does not forget
the oppressed in their poverty
sufferings
and misery
for He said
“So I fed
the flock of slaughter
verily the poor of the flock.” So in the text we have a
striking and beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus as the Great Shepherd of
souls. It has been truly observed by an able commentator
that no image of
Christ has so deeply impressed itself upon the mind of the Church as that of a
shepherd
as is shown by Christian literature and art
and our hymns and
prayers. The Eastern shepherd would never be seen without his staff or crook.
But reference is made here to two staves
and David says of the Lord as his
Shepherd
“Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.” In our text there are names
given to the two staves; one is called “Beauty
” and the other “Bands
” which
are to be taken emblematically to show that the Lord Jesus Christ the Divine
Shepherd will lead
protect
beautify
and unite His people as one great and
glorious flock.
I. The Lord Jesus
Christ feeding His people
“Lo
I fed the flock of the slaughter
verily the
poor of the flock.” When their own shepherds pity them not
the Divine Shepherd
makes them to lie down in peace and security in the green pastures of spiritual
blessings
and leads them beside the still waters of heavenly influences. He
lives for the sake of His sheep
and so they find in Him their true Shepherd.
Naturally the objects of our greatest care and anxiety will have the largest
place in our affections
and it is not easy for us to conceive the tender
affection and close attachment that would gradually grow between the Eastern
shepherd and his sheep.
II. The Lord Jesus
Christ protecting and guiding His people. With the staves the shepherd rules
protects
and guides his sheep. He uses the crook to prevent them from going
astray
and to pull them back from dangerous places. God’s people
like sheep
are very prone to go astray. He very often draws them by His crook from
temptations and dangers which they are not in the least aware of. Think of a
promising young man
who has been brought up in a religious family
enticed by
bad companions into the forbidden paths of sinful pleasures; but before he falls
over the precipice of destruction
the Good Shepherd
through sickness
or the
death of a companion or a near relation
mercifully draws him back by His
crook. The apostle Peter wandered far astray
but Christ followed him
faithfully
and gently brought him back. The Divine Shepherd dealt in a similar
manner with Thomas
who had wandered far into the wilderness of doubt and
unbelief. And we do not know from how many dangers and temptations we have been
rescued by the Divine Shepherd with His crook.
III. The Lord Jesus
Christ beautifying His people. He will bring out to its highest perfection the
beautiful individuality of each one of His followers. This is taught by the
symbolic name of one of the two staves
which is called “Beauty.” God
under
the old dispensation
through various means and ministrations
aimed at
ennobling and beautifying His people; and notwithstanding all their faults
they looked beautiful compared to the idolatrous nations by which they were
surrounded. In the Book of the prophet Jeremiah they are called a “beautiful
flock.” Their God
who is called the Shepherd of Israel
had made them
beautiful by saving
protecting
and guiding them
and richly bestowing His
blessings upon them. So does the Lord Jesus Christ in a similar way sanctify
and beautify His people; from His love
gentleness
care
faithfulness
and
self-sacrificing Spirit there goes forth a mighty influence silently to purify
their nature and ennoble and beautify their character. He washes them in His
own blood
and beautifies and adorns them with His own heavenly Spirit. This is
the beauty of holiness
“And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.”
They are changed into the image of Christ from glory to glory by the influence
of His Spirit dwelling in them. We can say that the Great Shepherd is perfectly
impartial in the bestowal of His sanctifying and beautifying influences upon
all God’s erring children
whom He strives to gather together into one
beautiful flock. The sun is perfectly impartial in the distribution of its heat
and light
which bring out the beauty of the flowers and the trees. One flower
cannot say to another
The sun has taken more trouble to beautify and adorn you
than me
for it shines equally the same for all. So Christ the Sun of
Righteousness distributes its purifying and beautifying influences equally
impartially to all
IV. The Lord Jesus
Christ uniting His people. In the union of the human and the Divine in the
person of the Good Shepherd all men are virtually united in Him
and He will
not rest satisfied until all are actually made one in Him. This blessed truth
is implied by the name of the other staff
which is called “Bands
” which
teaches that the Divine Shepherd not only sanctifies and beautifies His people
individually
but also unites them socially into one great and glorious
company. As the shepherd carefully gathers his sheep together into the fold
so
Goes Christ gather all men together. Moses
Socrates
Plato
Gautama
Zoroaster
John
Peter
Paul
Mohammed
Luther
Wesley
and others are all His
under-shepherds
and ultimately He will bring all their flocks together. He has
died for all
seeks all
and will save all. “And I
if I be lifted up from the
earth
will draw an men unto Myself.” The shepherd feels restless and uneasy if
one sheep is waning
in the fold. So Christ the Good Shepherd will not feel
satisfied until the last erring sheep has been safely brought into the heavenly
fold
and He will not leave the wilderness as long as there is one wandering
sheep to be brought home. (Z. Mather.)
Verse 8
My soul lothed them
and their soul also abhorred Me
A mutual dislike between God and man
I.
This
mutual moral antagonism is manifestly abnormal. It is not conceivable that the
all-wise and all-loving Maker of the universe would create beings whom He would
loathe and who would abhor Him. Such an idea is opposed at once to our
intuitions and our conclusions. In the pristine state of humanity
God loved
man
and man loved God.
II. This mutual
moral antagonism implies wrong on man’s part. For Infinite Purity and
Righteousness to loathe the corrupt and the wrong is not only right
but a
necessity of the Divine character. He abhorreth sin; it is the “abominable
thing” which He hates. This is His glory. But for man to abhor Him
this is the
great sin
the fontal sin
the source of all other sins.
III. This mutual
moral antagonism explains the sin and wretchedness of the world. Why does the
world abound with falsehoods
dishonesties and oppressions
unchastities
cruelties
and impieties? Because human souls are not in supreme sympathy with
the supremely good
because they are at enmity with God
because God loathes
sin.
IV. This mutual
moral antagonism argues the necessity for a reconciliation. The great want of
the world is the reconciliation of man to the character and the friendship of
God. Such a reconciliation requires no change on God’s part. His loathing is
the loathing of love
love loathing the wrong and the miserable. The change
must be on man’s part. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. (Homilist.)
Divine rejection
A time comes in the history of incorrigible nations and
incorrigible individuals when they are rejected of heaven.
I. The cause of
this lamentable event. “My soul loatheth them.”
II. The result. The
results here are threefold.
1. The cessation of Divine mercy. “I will not feed you.”
2. Abandonment to self-ruin. “That that dieth
let it die; and that
that is to be cut off
let it be cut off.” “The wages of sin is death.” “Sin
when it is finished
bringeth forth death.”
3. Deliverance to mutual tormentors. “And let the rest eat everyone
the flesh of another.” All these results were realised in a material sense in
the rejection of the Jewish people. Josephus tells us that in the destruction
of Jerusalem
pestilence
famine
and intestine discord ran riot amongst the
God-rejected people. These material evils are but faint emblems of the
spiritual evils that must be realised by every God-rejected soul.
III. The sign. “And
I took My staff
even Beauty
and cut it asunder
that I might break My
convenant which I had made with all the people.” The Divine Shepherd is
represented as having two staves
or crooks; ordinary shepherds have only one.
Expositors in their interpretation of these staves differ here as in most
places elsewhere in this book. Some say they indicate the double care that the
Divine Shepherd takes of his people; some
the different methods of treatment
pursued by the Almighty Shepherd towards His people; some
that they refer to
the house of of Judah and to the house of Israel
indicating that neither was
to be left out in the mission of the work of the Good Shepherd; and some
that
the one called “Beauty”--which means grace--represents the merciful
dispensation
under which the Hebrew people had been placed; and the other
staff called “Bands
” the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. One thing seems
clear
that the cutting of the staff called “Beauty” asunder was a symbol of
their rejection from all future grace and mercy. It may be stated as a general
truth
that all heaven-rejected souls have signs of their miserable condition.
What are the general signs?
1. Practical ignorance of God.
2. Utter subjection to the senses.
3. Complete devotion to selfish aims.
4. Insensibility of conscience. (Homilist.)
Abhorring the name of God
“For the last ten years I (Gambetta) have made a pledge with
myself to entirely avoid introducing the name of God into any speech of mine. You
can hardly believe how difficult it has been
but I have succeeded
thank God!”
(Dieu merci!) Thus the name so sternly tabooed rose unconsciously to his lips
at the very moment when he was congratulating himself on having overcome the
habit of using it. (E. D. Pressense.)
Verses 10-14
So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver
The goodly price of Jesus
Satan’s dealings with the human family may be truthfully described
as one gigantic system of bribery and corruption.
He has bribes of all sorts
and of different kinds and characters
and he knows
how to apply them. He takes care to suit his bribe to the person who is being
bribed. With some of us wealth is no particular object. But even while we spurn
that bribe we are open to others. Before one man Satan puts the possibility of
revelling in pleasure
before another a dream of ambition
before another
literary distinction
before another domestic happiness. This system of bribery
and corruption was fully shown when Satan entered the lists against the Saviour
of the world. When the Son of God
made man
stood before the tempter in the
wilderness
it was after this fashion that he dared to proceed. On that
occasion Satan presented to the view of our blessed Master the very highest
bribe that was ever offered. Of all the assaults which he made on our blessed
Lord
this seems to have been the least successful. On other occasions he was
very subtle; he approached our Lord very cautiously
but he made no headway; on
each occasion he was met with wisdom and firmness. Satan is very frugal with
his bribes. What is all his bribery and corruption for? How comes it to pass
that Satan thus exerts his malignant skill in endeavouring to gain an influence
over us? Satan’s prime object is
to carry out his rebellious purposes in the
very face of the everlasting purposes of Jehovah. We
Christians
believe that
in the end God will manifest His own wisdom by triumphing completely over
Satan’s malignant skill
but that for the time being appearances are otherwise.
There is no class of persons in human history for whom we feel a greater
contempt than for traitors. We all despise a traitor. Who is there that can
have any respect for a man like Judas Iscariot? And yet the sin that Judas
committed is the sin that is being committed by the slaves of Satan still. We
have not
indeed
the power of doing what Judas did. But as it is possible for
us to “crucify” our Lord afresh
so it is possible to betray Him afresh into
the hands of His enemies. How can this be done? This nature of ours
what is
it? It is a citadel of the living God; it should be an abode of the Eternal
Spirit. Every one of you belongs to God. If we refuse to recognise His right it
is simply because we are already in our own hearts traitors against His love.
The Lord is aware of his enticements. So He says to us: “If it seem good unto
you
give Me My price.” If you are going to barter My rights for that which
Satan offers you; if you are going to play the part of a base and perfidious
traitor
make up your mind what your bargain is to be; look your own act in the
face. If men and women were to sit down and ask themselves the question: “What
price have I accepted for Jesus; for how great a consideration have I agreed
with Satan to make over my soul to his influences
and to live the life that he
would have me lead?” they would soon repent of their bribe. Little do you think
that when you are selling the rights of Jesus you are actually selling your own
interests. The man that sells Jesus sells his own soul
and there is no man
that makes so bad a bargain as the man who accepts the devil’s bribes for the
betrayal of Jesus. Look at this miserable man Judas. Can you fancy how he crept
down that dark street? He felt already as if he were standing on the very verge
of hell. The bargain was struck. And what a bargain it was! It did not seem
much to get for Jesus--thirty pieces of silver. Then the end for Judas. It is
the way the devil’s bribe will always end. He makes you fair promises; he takes
you by the hand; he pleads with you; he lays all tempting things before you;
but behind them all he has got the hangman’s rope ready
and the scaffold is
prepared
and the awful moment of doom is drawing nearer and nearer. By and by
come the agonies of remorse
the terrors of despair
and the awful horrors of a
lost eternity. (W. Hay Aitken
M. A.)
A model spiritual teacher
Why these words should have been referred to by Matthew
and applied to Christ and Judas
I cannot explain. They may fairly be employed
to illustrate a model spiritual teacher in relation to secular acknowledgments
of His teachings.
I. He leaves the
secular acknowledgment to the free choice of those to whom His services have
been rendered. “And I said unto them
If ye think good
give Me My price; and
if not
forbear.” He does not exact anything
nor does he even suggest any
amount.
II. His spiritual
services are sometimes shamefully underrated. “So they weighed for My price
thirty pieces of silver.” Thirty shekels. An amount in our money of about £3
2s. 6d. This was the price they put on His services
just the price paid to a
bond servant (Exodus 31:1-18).
1. Do not determine the real worth of a spiritual teacher by the
amount of his stipend.
2. Deplore the inappreciativeness of the world of the highest
services.
III. His independent
soul repudiates inadequate secular acknowledgments
“And the Lord said unto me
Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I
took the thirty pieces of silver
and east them to the potter in the house of
the Lord.” He felt the insult of being offered such a miserable sum. “Cut it
unto the potter
” a proverbial expression
meaning
throw it to the temple
potter. “The most suitable person to whom to cast the despicable sum
plying
the trade
as he did
in the polluted valley of Hinnom
because it furnished
him with the most suitable clay.” A true teacher would starve rather than
accept such a miserable acknowledgment for his services. Your money perish with
you! (Homilist.)
Mean treatment of an old prophet by his people
Here is an old Jewish prophet honourably putting himself in the
hands of his congregation
who is dismissing himself with thirty pieces of
silver.
I. An old
prophet’s manly offer to his congregation. If you think good
give me my price.
If you are weary of me
pay me off and discharge me. If you be willing to
continue me longer in your service
I will continue; or turn me off without
wages--I am content. His spirit is
II. The Church’s
miserable acceptance of his offer. “So they weighed for my price thirty pieces
of silver.” They accepted the offer--
1. Immediately. They took no time for consideration. The money was
ready for dismissal.
2. Despicably. Thirty shekels.
3. Dishonourably. Dismissing an old pastor with such a paltry sum.
Parting with the man of God with a sham testimonial. An old prophet
after a
long service of usefulness
cast upon the world with thirty pieces of silver.
4. Studiously mean. “They weighed thirty pieces of silver.” They
shamefully put the lowest possible value on his ministry. See the extreme want
of appreciation of good pastoral service. Zechariah’s ministry was Divine. What
wretchedness of dealing with the prophetic shepherd of Israel. Salary is no
test of a good ministry. Some of the best are badly paid: The geniuses are
frequently unworthily recognised by their congregations. Jonathan Edwards was
too poor to get paper to pen down his superhuman thoughts in the ministry.
III. The prophet’s
manly disdain of his people’s meanness. “And the Lord said unto me
Cast it
unto the potter
” etc. The act was--
1. Divine. “And the Lord said unto me.”
2. Manfully done.
3. A proof of their meanness.
IV. An old prophet
robbed of his just claim.
1. Scriptural claim. “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth the
corn.”
2. Social. For the “workman is worthy of his hire.”
3. Equitable. Every class of
people have power to claim their due
why not the ministry?
4. Divine. “Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the
Gospel should live of the Gospel.” “Who goeth a warfare any time at his own
charges? And who planteth a vineyard and eateth not of the fruit
” etc. It is
nothing but right for the ministry to get and have their due
for the credit of
the Church and the good of their successors. Honesty is virtue everywhere.
Conclusion--God frequently punishes publicly mean churches by presenting them
with shepherds of extreme barbarity and cruelty. Meanness will be punished. (J.
Morlais Jones.)
The price of our redemption
The exact agreement of this prophecy with the event it
predicts would be sufficient to render this chapter more than ordinarily
interesting. But it has a still greater claim on our regard
since it contains
the passage which I have chosen as the subject of this discourse
than which no
prophecy is more clear
no prediction more close and circumstantial. To
whichever prophet or to what particular book the passage before us may be
attributed
its circumstantial and prophetic description of an extraordinary
event connected with man’s redemption cannot be denied. How trifling was the
sum for which Judas sold his immortal soul. What could be his motive we at this
distant hour can scarcely conceive. It has been said to have been avarice. But
the sum of two or three pounds is surely too small a temptation even for the
most covetous of mankind to betray and deliver to certain death his kindest
friend and benefactor. The Gospel expressly tells us the crime originated at
the instigation of Satan. Man’s salvation was bought with a price. What that
price was
let the service of the Church at this season describe. Not even for
a moment can a sincere disciple of Christ forget the words of the Apostle: “Ye
are not your own
for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your
body
and in your spirit
which are God’s.” (John Nance
D. D.)
Verse 15-16
Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd
The instruments of a foolish shepherd
The command addressed to the prophet was
“to take unto him
yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.
” “Yet” means “again
” “once more.” “Beauty” and “bands” were also instruments
of a foolish shepherd. He was to take other instruments so as to manifest more
visibly and strikingly what a foolish shepherd is. By “foolish” understand
ungodly
unregenerate
destitute of heavenly imparted wisdom
and therefore in
God’s account a fool. The “foolish shepherd” is therefore a natural man lifted
up by education
pride
covetousness
or presumption into a pulpit
and devoid
of spiritual illumination and heavenly wisdom. He has certain instruments which
the prophet was to take as emblems of his character. What they were the Holy
Ghost has not here informed us
but as we may gather them from other parts of
Scripture I shall take the liberty to put them into his hand.
1. A mask. The thing it represents
namely
deceit and imposture
is
as old as the times of Jannes and Jambres. To wear a mask is to play a false
part
to assume a fictitious character
to be a stage player; for in ancient
times the actors never appeared but in masks
the features of which imitated
the persons they represented. Thus the foolish shepherd makes the people his
stage
his holy countenance being his mask
and his false zeal loud speech
and
impassioned rant his wardrobe; and thus by craft and cunning he entangles the
simple in his net.
2. A sceptre. The badge of authority and power.
3. A pair of sharp shears; for we read that “they clothe themselves
with the wool
” and of course must have something to get the wool off with. To
receive what is voluntarily given is a different thing from clipping off as
much wool as possible
or cutting so close as to fetch blood
and take off a
bit of the skin.
4. A long whip that shall reach every corner of the pen
to flog all
that stir up the enmity of his carnal mind
by what he calls a discontented
mind.
5. A bow
and a quiver full of arrows; to reach those at a distance
who are beyond the lash of the whip. Come now to his character
which the Holy
Ghost has here drawn
and as we learn much from contraries
it will afford us
an opportunity of seeing from the contrast what the wise shepherd is.
──《The Biblical Illustrator》